These are so amazing I have to break my summer hiatus and share. I wanted to use up my 25 pound bag of Honeyville Almond Flour so I’ve been baking like a nut. I’ve not made oatmeal raisin cookies in years but I had some of my favorite gluten free oats left as well as raisins and walnuts on hand. So of course I had to try. Well these greatly exceeded my expectations. By the way these make a great breakfast with a nice hot cup of tea or coffee.

If you are a fan of the moist, soft, chewy cookie then you’ll love these.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, until they are lightly brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool down enough to pick up and eat. You don’t want to pop one into your mouth as soon as you take them out of the oven or you’ll burn the heck out of your mouth, take it from me.

If you don’t have coconut nectar and don’t follow the link provided to order some, then you can substitute agave or yacon syrup or even regular sugar. If you go with the regular sugar you will probably need to increase the amount of water to balance off the liquids provided in the recipe. Just start with a teaspoon and add from there. Remember you can always add more so start small. You’ll want to be able to have the dough hold together.

Pancakes are not just for breakfast. They make great desserts. Well I guess there’s no harm in having dessert for breakfast so feel free to eat these anytime. We do. All you need is a gluten free recipe and a little chocolate and you are ready to make a lot of people smile.

My favorite pancake recipe comes from Elana Amsterdam’s website and cookbook. The site, Elana’s Pantry has so many great recipes. But I do love her Pancakes. I tried many gluten free pancake recipes looking for one that tasted like I remember pancakes tasting. Her’s is by far the best one and I would go as far as saying it’s even way better than those gluten pancakes I used to eat. Also Elana’s are made with almond flour so right off the bat you are starting with more nutritional goodness in there.

We don’t eat pancakes here very often and every time I make them I wonder why. They are so easy to whip up in the Vitamix or good blender if you have it. They are also very versatile. I love to add fun foods to the pancakes after I’ve poured them into the pan. Fruit is always good like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, bananas, peaches, plums, apricots and even grapes. I know there really isn’t much I won’t try.

But when you want that warm sweet chocolate melting as you pull them apart and take a bite, then you need some chocolate chunks. Who needs a croisant when you can have these little gems on your plate. Trust me, if you make these people will follow you around and ask if there is anything they can do for you that day.

So you can start with your favorite pancake recipe or use Elana’s Pancakes Revisited recipe which can also be found in her book, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook(affiliate link). It’s still in my top 10 cookbooks of all time because it has recipes in there I actually use, a lot.

For the pancakes I add in a little more water than she suggests and I always double the recipe. I love having leftovers for the refrigerator and freezer.

Once you’ve poured your pancakes about the size of a small teacup, now you get to add in the chocolate. I use (affiliate link)

The chips will work too but I really like to have that chunk so when I bite into them or break them in half I have that warm flow of chocolate.

Once you place the chocolate chunks onto the pancake in the pan, push the chocolate in a little and make sure you cover them up with batter so they are inside the pancake. This just takes a little moving around with your finger, not more batter.

When ready flip the pancakes and after they are done remove them from the pan onto your serving plate. You’ll want to eat these little gems while they are hot so feel free to make what you want for now and take the pan off the heat. You can come back in a little while and make more.

Sprinkle the pancakes with powdered sugar and serve. Do it fast before you eat them all!

You may be wondering why this recipe is titled a Dairy Free Chocolate Whipped Cream, Mousse or Icing recipe. Well first it’s gluten and dairy free because I use coconut milk and make sure all of the other ingredients fit the bill. Next when you make this recipe you can use it for either whipped cream, a mousse especially if you put it into the refrigerator after you make it or use it as icing on a cake, cupcake, brownie, donut, cake pop, cookie or anything else you want to top with icing. Obviously my favorite is my finger!

This is a fast recipe to make but only if you do the set up. Everything MUST BE COLD. That means the bowl and beaters used to whip the coconut milk and the coconut milk itself.

If you follow these simple directions then you will have Chocolate Whipped Cream, Mousse or Icing any time you want it. Yes I said anytime so be careful. But of course always keep 2 cans of coconut milk in your refrigerator just in case you need to whip up a batch. And once you get the hang of this I’m sure you’ll be playing around with flavors. Maybe you want to add in a different flavor like strawberry or even chocolate mint. Be creative and experiment. Please let me know what you create. Take a picture and send it to me and I’ll happily share it with your name on it.

Put your coconut milk in the refrigerator for at least 2 days and your bowl and beater for at least 1 hour.

Open the cans of milk and carefully scoop out the solid coconut milk into your mixing bowl leaving the watery liquid behind in the can.

Start your standing mixer on low speed.

Once the coconut milk as started to spread out, add in the vanilla and sweetener.

Once that is combined turn it on medium high and let it start to whip.

Slow your mixer down again and add in the chocolate. Once the chocolate is combined turn the mixer up to high.

If the cream is two thick you can always add in a little of the coconut water that was left in the can. It’s really just a matter of the consistency of your whipped cream. I’ve never had two batches use exactly the same amount of that water.

Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed throughout this process and of course pick who gets to lick the beater and bowl!

If you put this into a bowl and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour it will have more of an icing or mousse consistency.

This is the easiest pecan pie I have ever made. After reading Shirley’s Easy Crustless Gluten-Free Peacan Pie I thought I had to give it a try. I wanted something sweet for my sweetheart but fast and easy for me to make. I don’t think you have to try and equal the amount of time you spend in the kitchen to how much you love someone. Just making something scrumptious to eat says I love you.

Thank you Shirley for all the great recipes you create on gluten free easily and showing us how it really can be easy to live gluten free.

There were a few ingredients I either didn’t have or don’t eat from Shirley’s recipe, so I made substitutes and this is what I came up with. Now some of the changes I made probably made it a little different but everyone who ate the pie loved it. So, it’s a keeper. I think the next time I make this I’m going to use either a few small pie tins so I can easily freeze the leftovers or use my muffin pan to make the serving sizes more manageable or I should say controllable. One can really start digging into this pie with a spoon and the next thing you know you’ve eaten two servings worth, burned your mouth because you didn’t wait for it to cool and you’re running around trying to make it look like you didn’t eat as much. But I’m sure that will never happen so never mind.

Sometimes when folks serve a Crustless Gluten-Free Pecan and Chocolate Pie they want to top it off with whipped cream. Go right ahead. I make a dairy free version from coconut milk. If you want a little more chocolate you can just add a little cocoa powder right into your whipped cream and use that as your topping for this pie.

Now here is the good part. Lets say it’s Valentines Day and you’ve made a wonderful dinner. Before you sit down to eat pop this into the oven. It will take a little while to cook and then cool but that will give you time for a nice, long, leisurely dinner and maybe a little walk afterwards. Then you can have this wonderful pie waiting for you.

So what are you going to make for your Valentine? Check out these gluten-free sites for some great inspiration:

I’ve been saving this recipe for Gluten and Dairy Free Toffee just for Home for the Holidays…Gluten-Free Style. This is sure to be an amazing daily blogging event taking place from Monday, November 28 through Friday, December 23 and is being hosted by Shirley at gluten free easily. There are 25 bloggers sharing their stories and recipes for the holidays. There is also a ginormous prize bin that will have you picking your chin up off the floor with almost 100 prizes. There are books … including cookbooks, resource books; iPhone apps; gluten-free magazine subscriptions; tools to help you know if a product is safe you to eat; and much more. For all the information see the schedule and prizes at the end of this post and visit the gfe announcement.

These 3 books have been awarded and this giveaway is closed. However there is a new drawing every day so make sure you check out the schedule so you know where to show up!

Today we will have 3 prizes to enter to win on this blog. You have until 10 pm EST on Wednesday November 30th to enter to win one of these three prizes:

The Steamy Kitchen by Jaden Hair (not a 100% gf cookbook but many naturally or adaptable recipes)

Winners will be announced weekly on gfe. Comments on this blog post will close at 10 pm on Wednesday November 30th.

To be entered to win, leave a comment on this blog post.

If you would like a few more entries or chances to win, here are some ways. Just remember if you do any of these leave a comment here letting me know each one you did. Don’t leave one comment with a summary. Each comment here counts as an entry to win today’s prizes and to be entered into the drawing for the grand prizes. You can:

Now remember there are tons of prizes and even multiple copies so if you don’t win here there will be a new giveaway every day until December 23rd. Oh and here is the best part. Every daily entry makes you eligible for the final giveaway, so the more blogs you visit and more entries you offer, the more your odds of winning the grand prize, second prize, or third prize will increase. Winners of the daily giveaways will be announced weekly on gluten free easily, along with the final announcement sharing the final week’s winners as well as the grand prize, second place, and third place winners.

Grand Prize, Second Prize, and Third Prize (remember … all of your entries throughout this event are eligible for this final giveaway)

Second Prize—A $150 shopping spree at Free From Gluten(freefromgluten.com). Free From Gluten is the largest gluten-free store offering everything from basic products like gluten-free flours and xanthan gum to those niceties like Enjoy Life semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (hey, some would say those are essentials!) and special products like baguettes and ice cream cones. Take a moment to check out their site … I’ll wait … (tick, tick, tick, tick) … now wouldn’t it be fun to spend $150 at their site?

One large bag of each of the current three flavors , Original, Tropical, and Alpine($28.95 value) plus one large bag of the soon-to-be released new flavor, Rainforest ($9.95 value; will be shipped as soon as available; anticipated end of Dec); 1 large variety pack ($32.50 value), and 1 t-shirt ($17.50 value; your size, your color).

Gluten and Dairy Free Toffee

Oh you’re going to like this one for sure but be warned you’ll be seeking the Toffee Anonymous support group. Once you start eating this it’s hard to stop. I made a batch and my family ate it all in just a couple of days. I then made a batch and shared it with a group of gluten free gals and they ate it all in one day! This will make great gifts for your family, friends, neighbors and even teachers.

Ever since I was a kid I can remember making food gifts for family, neighbors, teachers and other service workers to thank them. We also would make extra to have around for guests that visited. My mother and I would make pressed cookies that we would decorate with colored sugar. I’d make chocolate chip cookies and she would make her famous brownies or 1,2,3,4 Cake. We would hand them out and everyone was always happy to get a food gift. The best gift of all was getting to be in the kitchen with my mom. There is no greater gift that you can give your children than to bring them into the kitchen and teach them how to cook and bake for themselves and others.

I hope you will enjoy making this toffee as much as you do eating it and sharing it. Grab some family members to help you in the kitchen and make a list of who you want to share this toffee with for the holidays.

If you are already a toffee fan than you know this recipe follows the basics set out some time ago and I’m not sure who to give the credit to. Toffee using crackers is an old trick that I’ve put a spin on by using gluten free crackers and keeping it dairy free.

You may have noticed that my recipe has a little button Save Recipe. This is a cool new system to keep track of the recipes you like in your own personal recipe box. It will also make a shopping list from the recipes you save. There are only a few of these on my site but I promise to start working on adding it to past recipes. No more trying to remember where you saw that recipe you liked. Enjoy!

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If you are interested in the type of crackers I used they were from Natural Nectar and can be purchased at Whole Foods or through my affiliate link to Amazon where they sell them as a 12 pack, great if you are making gifts.

I wish you all the happiest of days during this holiday season.

Home for the Holidays Gluten-Free Style has begun and now it’s your turn to jump in. Good luck and enjoy all of these amazing bloggers and fantastic prizes.

Here’s a complete listing of all the excellent bloggers participating followed by the list of prizes being given away.

No matter if you like Halloween or Harry Potter, you’ll love these gluten and dairy free Cauldron Cakes. They are super easy to make and will be a big hit no matter what your age. These are so easy I won’t be giving a recipe but directions for assembly.

Now if you’re one of the Harry Potter fans you’ll want to serve these Cauldron Cakes with Pumpkin Juice. You can make your own by mixing apple juice with pumpkin but I’ve never actually done that so I couldn’t even begin to guess the portions. I’d say more apple juice. I ordered mine from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. Yes, you can order online and they will ship it to you. You can even get Sugar Quill and Dark Mark lollipops, Sherbert Lemons and my favorite Chocolate Frogs.

Cauldron Cakes for Halloween or Harry Potter Parties

Dip the bottoms into melted chocolate (I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips) and place onto parchment paper to set. Place 4 chips on the sheet so when you sent them down it will make it look like cauldron feet. Sometimes those extra chips melt but that just means more chocolate.

Core out the center of the cupcakes with a spoon or one of those cool corers.

Fill the hole with icing and let it spill out the top. (I used Whole Foods)

Make the handles by melting chocolate (I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips), put it into a plastic baggie and snip the corner to make a piping bag. Draw the handles onto parchment paper and let them harden. I like the freezer for the fast set. Gently push the handles into the cupcake.

Really, that’s all there is to do. I even took the cupcake centers I pulled out to make cake pops. I will say that the hardest part is not licking your fingers all the way through.
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

I love cupcakes but then again who doesn’t! Today as we celebrate Celiac Awareness Day, I’d like to make sure you can make yourself some amazing cupcakes. This summer I made many of these wonderful recipes from Elana Amsterdam’s Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour cookbook. There are so many great recipes in here it’s hard to choose, so just make them all.

One of our favorites that I make often are the Banana Cupcakes. It seems I always have a couple of bananas that get just a little too ripe so I keep the dry part of this mix in little bags in my refrigerator. This way I can mix up a batch fast in the morning to serve for breakfast. I however really enjoy sitting down with my banana cupcake and a cup of chai tea.

I of course had to make chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. My absolute favorites. These of course did not last very long in this house. I heard lots of interesting excuses for eating more than one. Like “Hmmm, I ate it so fast I forgot to give you any feedback on the cupcake. I’ll have another one and eat it much slower and describe what I like.”

Like Elana’s first cookbook, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, the recipes have a short list of ingredients and are fast to pull together. However, most importantly to our house, they taste great.

These two cookbooks are must haves for any kitchen, but especially if your’s is a gluten free one.

Last October I was walking through the Reston Town Center and there was a huge line of people coming out the door of a new little shop. It was the Red Velvet Cupcakery and they were giving away free cupcakes. I of course was skeptical that I would get one but sure enough they had a gluten and dairy free cupcake. I was too chicken to give it a try when they were free so I came back later when it was quiet and I could ask them my 20 questions.

They seemed to know every answer without hesitation so I bought the only gluten and dairy free cupcake available at the time, the Black Velvet. This is the moist chocolate cake with the very generous portion of chocolate frosting on top that even dips into the cupcake to keep it from sliding off. Ever since then I’ve been hooked.

Inspired by the first cupcakery ever opened, Sprinkles from California, the owners came east and opened Red Velvet Cupcakery. They have two shops in Washington, DC, one in Reston Virginia and two in Tucson Arizona. The Reston location is the one I frequent and where my pictures were taken.

The head pastry chef is Ciji Russell and as you can see from my photos doesn’t sit down very often. She did sit for a few minutes with me as I asked her my 20 questions. Ciji is a graduate from CIA, the Culinary Institute of America, where they don’t mess around. The CIA has been around for more than six decades and sets the standards for professional culinary education.

Ciji let me know that the gluten free cupcakes are the first batter batch made in the morning. These cupcakes are not baked until the next day when they are sold so they have time to set up. At the end of the day everything is wiped down and sterilized. This will mean it’s clean and ready for the next morning baking. The gluten free cupcakes have their own separate dedicated pans.

One thing I did notice is that anytime I happen to go in and ask anyone working there questions, they all know what they are talking about. That is very reassuring that it’s not just Ciji who understands what should happen to keep the gluten free cupcakes safe, they all do. I can’t say enough about how key it is that the entire staff understand how to keep gluten free diners safe when they are eating in your establishment.

When making cupcakes if they measure out any ingredients like cocoa and have extra it’s always marked not to be used for the gluten free cupcakes just to insure there is no question about cross contamination. There is no double dipping. They keep their ingredients clean and free of gluten. Of course this is a bakery and gluten flours are being used. This is something to be aware of. However I am very sensitive to gluten and a floured finger print would have me down and out. I’ve never had a problem with any of their gluten free cupcakes. Well, except maybe eating too many of them. They are really good.

The store bakes daily for people walking in and they also cater. For my husband’s big birthday bash we ordered cupcakes for the dessert. We had the chocolate cake and chocolate icing and they also created a chocolate cake with vanilla icing for us. The ones with the vanilla icing were and still are our favorites. They do have a new vanilla cake with vanilla icing that is good too.

As you can see the gluten free cupcakes are kept separate from the others. They have their own stand that is covered and off to the side. However when you order the cupcakes they are pulled from the rack. The gluten free cupcakes are always on the top of the rack to insure no crumbs fall onto them. They also always have a candied violet on top that is only for the gluten free cupcakes. So when you order one they will change gloves and then grab your cupcake from the top. It may appear that they didn’t even read anything to make sure it was gluten free. Their systems with those cupcakes on the top rack only and the candied violet mean they know exactly what they are giving you.

Flavor to flavor comparison, Black Velvet gluten free compared to Devils Food Cake, they make about 1/3 the number of gluten cupcakes. That is around 2 dozen a day and it’s been steadily increasing over time. If you want more for your picnic, party or because today ends in a y, then order ahead. You can do that online or call. If I go into the Reston shop for my cupcake fix and you just cleaned them out I’m not going to be very happy. So far that’s never happened and I promise to not take the last one from you either. However once they get home this is usually what I’m left with, an empty box.

This Red Velvet Cupcakery is located in the Reston Town Center. Their phone number is 703-464-7075 and you can find them online for that special order. If you stop in or call tell Ciji hello let them know you read about their cupcakes here. And please keep asking for the chocolate cake with vanilla icing gluten-free vegan cupcakes. I’m hoping they will make that combo a regular.

If you were not a fan of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie from last week because you can’t eat chocolate (what other reason would there be) then you’ll love this gluten and dairy free Deep Dish Coconut Cream Pie. It’s just as easy and you will definately get more coconut bang for your buck.

This is again another adaptation of Elana Amsterdam’s wonderful recipes. As many of you know I really don’t like long recipes when it comes to baking and Elana doesn’t have any of those. I don’t consider myself a baker but I’m starting to now. Well I have to say that Elana’s Pantry makes such great recipes that even with my shortened baking attention span I can look like a baking rock star.

I also have a secret to share. Lean in because I’m only going to whisper this once. Her new Gluten-Free Cupcake Cookbook is on pre-sale for only $9.03. If I were you I’d jump on that like ants to a picnic. You never know when they are going to put that price back up to the regular list price.

OK so back to the Coconut Cream Pie. Make sure when you purchase shredded coconut that you look for the highest quality and make sure it doesn’t have added sugar. Organic is great.

So first you want to make the crust. I used the Coconut Pie Crust recipe from Elana’s first cookbook, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. It’s really great as it adds in coconut to the crust and uses coconut oil.

I then followed her recipe for Chocolate Cream Pie but I didn’t add in any chocolate. Instead I just kept it vanilla. Now it didn’t set up as firm as the chocolate but it still works great and tastes amazing.

I used my deep dish pie plate for this recipe as I wanted to capture every drop of filling and topping.

For the topping I added my Coconut Milk Whipped Cream and sprinkled it with toasted coconut. This is my husband’s favorite pie and I was very happy to make it for him for his 50th birthday. I’d offer you a slice but he ate it already.

My family loves gluten and dairy free chocolate peanut butter cream pie. So much so that when I went away for the weekend recently it was requested I make one before I leave. Since it’s so easy I was happy to do so. I like it because it’s also vegan and grain free. This recipe makes two pies in an 8 inch pie plate or one pie and pudding cups on the side.

I start with Elana’s Pantry Chocolate Cream Pie recipe. The crust is made with almond flour so you know it’s full of great nutrients and protein. I double the crust recipe when making this into two pies.

The peanut butter layer was requested by my son. He loves chocolate and peanut butter together. I heated the peanut butter and then mix in powdered sugar. 1 Cup of peanut butter and 2 TB of powdered sugar. Mix them together and smooth into the bottom of the cooked and cooled pie crusts.

Follow the directions for the chocolate cream filling. If you do not make two pies you will have leftover filling which is basically wonderful pudding. Put it into cups to eat later. Or you can use a deep dish pie plate and make one big pie. I might have to do this the next time. Although with two smaller pies we get to enjoy it longer.

I let the pies set up in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. This of course is the hardest part, the waiting.

As you see if left in the refrigerator without a cover a skin forms on the top just like with any pudding you would make. If you don’t like that make sure you cover it.

This pie is also great topped with Coconut Milk Whipped Cream or just eat it plain. Be forewarned, it is really good and it won’t last long.

This month I adopted Kim from Cook It Allergy Free. Yep the same Kim Maes I shared with you on Wednesday. Every month Book of Yum has this great event where we adopt a gluten-free blogger, make one of their recipes and share our experience. This month it’s being hosted on Lexie’s Kitchen. So coming in the next week or so you’ll see the entire round up with all of the adoptees over at Lexie’s Kitchen so keep checking.

As I was searching through Kim’s blog I made a list of about 10 different recipes I wanted to make. It was hard to pick just one but with a limited amount of time I had to make the hard decision to make her Best Ever Brownies. Earlier today I shared my story of great memories being a kid and making brownies with my mom on Change My Life Journal. She makes the best ever brownies with gluten and dairy that I’ve ever tasted. I wish I could still have them. Her baking is really the only thing I miss living gluten and dairy free.

I read through Kim’s recipe and it called for melting your favorite type of butter, mine being Earth Balance soy free version. There was also Coconut Palm Sugar which I had on hand and wanted to take it for a spin since I had yet to try it out. Wait there was also eggs, vanilla, almond flour and walnuts. This recipe was very similar to my mom’s except she used regular flour, butter and Baker’s chocolate squares. It was my job to keep an eye on the pan as the chocolate and butter would melt.

Kim’s recipe even said to beat vigorously for 60 strokes after adding in the flour. My mom always gave me a much higher count. I’m thinking it was something like 200 strokes. I just remember my arm felt like it was going to fall off and I would need mom to jump in and help me finish.

I baked the batter in a square pan that I lined with parchment paper instead of foil. Honestly I didn’t want to mess with oiling the foil since I don’t use spray oils as they contain soy. Well they used to and I’ve not gone back to check so I don’t have any on hand. Yeah I know I still could have greased the foil but I was just being lazy.

While making these brownies the smell coming from the pan really did remind me of making brownies with my mom. They smelled the same. It was a lot of fun to make Kim’s recipe too.

So now I have 16 squares of delicious brownies in my house. I’m catering our yoga party to celebrate the completion of the 40 Days Commit to It program Scott and I participated in. I may toss in some of these brownies to share so I don’t eat them all myself. Oh I guess I could share them with my family too but I don’t want any of us going overboard.

So if you like brownies and you want a fast easy recipe than you’ll want to make Kim’s Best Ever Brownies. Head over to her blog now and snatch that recipe. If you’re interested in her Fudgy GF Brownies or Butterscotch Blondies than you need to use your iPhone or iPad to get her Cook it AF app. It’s great because you can customize these recipes according to your needs, save that into your recipe box and create a shopping list from the recipes you want to make. I love that.

OK, now I just need to figure out what to do between now and the party tomorrow evening so I don’t eat all of those brownies! Maybe I should leave them on this chair on my front porch.

Today is a sweet post from start to finish so make sure you read all the way to the end.

I grew up outside of Philly loving Tastykakes. There were the chocolate or vanilla cupcakes filled with cream or buttercream, the Jelly or Butterscotch Krimpets and the really over the top Juniors which was either a large square two layer cake with lots of icing on top or their Koffee Kake with this cool crumble topping. Oh and they had fruit and cream pies. But then there were my favorites, Kandy Kakes. These were small round vanilla cakes with peanut butter on top and then coated in chocolate. They came 3 to a package and you can bet I wasn’t sharing any. And now I see they are selling Chocolate Kandy Kakes with a chocolate cake with vanilla cream all covered in chocolate icing.

Yeah can you tell I’ve had a sweet tooth all my life and was totally obsessed with Tastykakes. It’s a good thing I live gluten free now or I’d be hunting all over for these puppies and that would not be a good life choice.

Well the other day I was making Elana’s Classic Drop Biscuits for my son. We were headed out the door and he needed something to eat so I cut it open and filled it with peanut butter and off we went . And then I got an idea. A wonderfully delicious decadent idea that made the edges of my mouth curl up. What if I coated these in chocolate? I wonder if they would taste anything like those Kandy Kakes I used to live on as a kid. (trust me, my mom did feed me amazing great and healthy foods too)

I only had two biscuits left so I gave it a try. Well lets just say the three of us in the house were fighting over these two creations. They were wonderful and huge. So for the big game I made another batch of the Classic Drop Biscuits but this time smaller. Now we can eat these treats in just two bites. Hmm, not sure if that is a good thing or not since I can just pop them in my mouth.

I have to say that these taste amazing. I only made one small adjustment to the biscuit recipe by adding in a tablespoon of ground chia seeds. I wanted to add a little more goodness into these since I knew we would be popping them like sunflower seeds. But with this recipe using almond flour you know they already had a great start to being really good for you.

Well the last time I was with Elana she graciously signed her current cookbook for me to give to you. If you happen to be the winner of this cookbook you will be on lucky person, and well fed. So here are the recipes to make the Classic Drop Biscuits and Gluten-Free Kandy Kakes and how to win the cookbook.

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Jennifer Child for winning. Thank you to all who participated. You can still get your copy of this great cookbook on Amazon.

Here are 10 ways to enter to win this signed copy of The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. Don’t delay I’m giving this cookbook away one week from today. The deadline to enter is 10pm on March 3rd.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapeseed oil, agave nectar, eggs and lemon juice. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combines. Drop the batter, in scant 1/4 cups 2 inches apart onto the baking sheet.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown or a toothpick inserted into the center of a biscuit comes out clean. Let the biscuits cool briefly on the baking sheet, then serve warm.

Gluten-Free Kandy Kakes

To the biscuit recipe add in 1 TB of ground chia and follow the rest of the recipe as shared above from the cookbook.
When you make your biscuits think about how big of a Kandy Kake you want to make. I thought the regular sized biscuits were big for this treat so I made mine the size of a half dollar. When I did this I had to cut the baking time down. Elana gives you other ways to tell if they are ready.

Next melt your favorite chocolate. I used Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, Gluten, Dairy & Soy Free. Here comes the fun part. Melt the chips in the microwave and then carefully dip the biscuits into the melted chocolate and help it by spooning some over top. You want to completely coat these top, sides and bottom. Place on parchment paper to harden.

Now this is the hardest step. Do not eat them all at once.
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You will want to make many more recipes from Elana’s cookbook so make sure you follow the 10 ways to win and enter now!

I can’t believe I’m turning into a baker! I have to say I have a lot of help from people like Kelly at Spunky Coconut. I’ve adopted her blog this month as part of Book of Yum’s monthly Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger. This is a fun event that I love to participate in but often get sidetracked and miss the deadline.

So as many of you know I’m hosting a Boxing Day party at my house for my extended family. One of the desserts I wanted to make for our wonderful British relatives coming is Mincemeat Pies or as they refer to them and Mince!

I needed a good crust that I could both eat and serve to those who eat gluten. Kelly has a great recipe for a pie crust on her blog and in her cookbook. I really liked the fact that it combined both almond flour and coconut flour. I also learned something new about baking powder, it has corn in it! Yep. Could be one of those things that is bothering me and I couldn’t figure out the ingredient. So I used her grain-free corn-free baking powder recipe.

So I got busy making the dough. After seeing this photo you’ll know why I don’t bake often. I’m super messy! I was of course covered in flours and for some reason when I grabbed an open bag of potato flour it spilled down inside my shirt. Makes a good body powder.

I followed Kelly’s instructions except I used agave instead of Stevia. Well I changed one more thing too. Since I was making these mini pies I rolled out the dough and used my bisquit cutter to make circles that I then pushed into my mini muffin pan. It worked out great.

I ended up with 23 Mince Pies. I also cheated on the mince filling. I wanted these to be as British as possible so I picked up a Mincemeat mix from Robertson’s at the British Pantry that is sold in the UK. It’s very sweet but that’s what mince is right.

I think these came out really well. I did taste one so now there are only 22 left for company. After they cooled I promptly put them into the freezer to keep safe until Boxing Day.

So the recipe is very simple. Use Kelly’s pie crust recipe but don’t pre-bake it. Grease your tin with coconut oil. Roll out the dough and cut it into circles and place in each muffin space. Add an overflowing spoonful of mince mix. Top it off with a star that you have cut from the pie dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. There you have it. Now if you don’t have a mince mix you can always try one of the following recipes from David Lebovitz and BBC.

What could be better than chocolate and rum? Maybe a good looking pirate to share them with!

Grab your pirate and enjoy a plate of these little treasures. Well, you might want to share it with the whole crew because this recipe makes 48 cookies.

I’m really excited to be sharing this cookie recipe with you. They never would have come to be if it wasn’t for Silvana.

Silvana Nardone from Dish Towel Diaries and author of Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals contacted me about her Gluten-Free Holiday Cookie Countdown. 31 Days, 31 Recipes and 31 Gifts. It sounded like fun and I said I would love to join. I’m always up for fun! Then I started thinking that I don’t really bake very often. Right now grains are giving me trouble so what was I going to bake with and what was I going to make that was different. I started to panic.

I first went to Silvana’s new cookbook which I think is great. She has a great all purpose flour mixture but unfortunately it had ingredients I couldn’t eat.

So on to Plan B. I always have almond flour in the refrigerator because I often cook from Elana Amsterdam’s The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. We bake scones of all types and a lot of her chocolate chip cookies.

So with that in mind I thought I could build or change her chocolate chip recipe to create something new. If you are looking for her original recipe go to page 98 of her book.

If you can’t eat almonds head to Silvana’s flour blend recipe in the front of her cookbook. Either way you’re in cookies!

I had recently pulled out our few liquior bottles to inventory for our holiday party. The rum was sitting there so I of course thought I would soak some raisins in the rum. If nothing else I would have a great snack.

From there I grabbed some spices from my cubbard and started mixing. I couldn’t resist and had to taste the cookie dough to see if I was on the right path. That was my first mistake. It was really good. I could have just sat there with a spoon and gone to town. But that would not leave me with any cookies to photograph and after all this had all started with saying I would share this recipe with Silvana.

So I popped them into the oven to cook, moved them to the rack to cool and yep didn’t wait. I burnt my tongue tasting the hot cookies. I thought they tasted great so I let them cool and stacked them up for their beauty shot.

So far everyone who has tasted them has loved these cookies and the only request was for more rum in the cookies. I will say I only let the raisins soak for 2-3 hours and they needed more time. The longer they soak the more rum they will absorb. I have raisins soaking as I type so I can make more cookies this week.

The last step of this adventure was to give these cookies a name. When anyone mentions rum to me the first thing I think about is Captain Jack Sparrow played in the movies by the incredibly sexy Johnny Depp. I think he would like these cookies and I’d love to send him a tin for the opening of the next movie- Pirates of the Caribbean On Strangers Tides opening May 20, 2011. (if you have a connections let me know)

So I’m very happy to share this recipe with Silvana’s Gluten-Free Holiday Cookie Countdown. Head there now to leave a comment for your chance to win! Make sure you go back to Dish Towel Diaries each day for a new recipe and a chance to win a gift. Today she is featuring this recipe and giving away my cookbook.

Captain Jack’s Chocolate Rum Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

1/3 cup organic raisins

enough rum to cover the raisins

2 ½ cups almond flour

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp baking soda

½ cup grapeseed oil

½ cup agave nectar

1 TB vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips or coarsely chopped dark chocolate

½ cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Add your raisins and rum to cover into a small bowl and let sit at room temperature for at least 4 hours. The longer they have to soak up the wonderful rum the better.

When you are ready to bake your cookies preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together the almond flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking soda.

In a separate small bowl mix the oil, agave, and vanilla.

Now add the small bowl wet ingredients to the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix. When thoroughly combined stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.

With a slotted spoon remove your raisins from the rum and add to the cookie dough and combine.

Now toss the cookie dough into the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes while you clean up. It will make scooping easier.

Using a small scoop or teaspoon, place small spoonful onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and give it a little push to flatten if in a large mound. I like to use my #70 Scoop which is .5 oz size. It makes adding cookies fast. I usually get 24 cookies to a tray and bake off two trays.

Bake for 6-10 minutes depending on the size of your cookie and your oven temperature. When golden brown tops start to appear your cookies are done. Remove them to a cooling rack and try not to burn yourself sampling these little treasures.

Enjoy your cookies and don’t forget to help Captain Jack find that Fountain of Youth he’s looking for this Spring.
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In February of 2007 I found out I could not eat gluten ever again. Not too long after that I found out I couldn’t eat rice or dairy. For the past 3 years I have learned how to convert my cooking pretty easily to accommodate this. I have finally started to take on baking as the last frontier in the world of making things for myself and my family. Let me say it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.

Well the wait is over! Let me tell you, I think I’m in love. This chocolate cake with chocolate glaze is the most moist, delicious cake I’ve ever eaten. It doesn’t have that strange texture you can sometimes get from gluten free baking. My whole family is so excited. They are begging me to make this cake again. I had to search but I found one last bag of Clementines so we’ll be having cake again this weekend, but then not for some time. Not because I couldn’t try it with oranges or another fruit, because we would over eat.

So if I were you I would stop reading this right now, run to the grocery store and grab any clementines left you can find. If you are out of luck, well give it a try with some oranges.

I can thank Shirley from gluten free easily for helping to make this happen. Back in December last year she shared her recipe for Double-Chocolate Clementine Cake on her blog and also through Friday Foodie Fix when the Secret Ingredient was Clementine. As soon as I saw it I knew I was going to have to give it a try. I had already decided 2010 was going to be my year to learn about baking gluten and dairy free.

With my husband’s birthday coming I thought this would be a great cake to make. Now I happen to have a bad habit of not reading the entire recipe when baking before I start and it often gets me into trouble.

For instance I didn’t realize she had baked it in an 8 inch springform pan. I only had a small one, around 5 1/2 inches. So I quickly grabbed my cupcake pan.

OK, ready to go. First thing it said was to cook the clementines for 2 hours. What, we had to leave the house in 1 hour. Well I was not going to finish my day with no cake. Luckily I had just purchased a Vita-Mix Professional 500. I’m still learning all about this wonderful machine but let me say, I don’t know why I waited so long to get one. Yeah, it costs a lot of money but not like buying a car. Save up a little at a time and get yourself one of these gems. Amazing smoothies, sherbets right from the container in 5 minutes and even hot soup! Deep breaths Diane, deep breaths. I’m so in love with this. I really wish I had purchased it at the beginning of my gluten free journey. Eating those amazing green smoothies is so good for your body.

But back to my cake dilemma. So I thought with the soup setting on the Vita-Mix I am able to make steaming hot creamy soups in 5 minutes so why not clementines for this cake. So I scrubbed them, tossed them in with a splash of OJ, set it to hot soup and pushed start. I even Skyped Shirley to ask if this would work. She had not tried it before but was anxious to hear.

When the Vita-Mix turned off, yes it automaticly turns off at the end of the pre-programmed cycles, I had a hot velvelty creamy mixture of clementines that looked divine. It looked so good I had to taste it. Wow, talk about tart. Suggestion, don’t taste it until it’s baked into the cake.

So I baked the cake and cupcakes and set them out to cool. The glaze also called to be made in a sauce pan so I thought, why not. I tossed all of the ingredients into the Vita-Mix and hit hot soup. The most amazing hot chocolate glaze came out of that pitcher I could have shrunk myself and jumped in.

So here is Shirley’s recipe with my adaptations. As a serving suggestion that made this cake even better if you can imagine that, I served it with my Easy Gluten and Dairy Free Whipped Cream that I make from coconut milk.

One more thing that makes this cake even more special to me. After I had made the cake and it sat out a day or two we decided to wait until the following weekend to eat it. I wrapped it and tossed it into the freezer. When we were ready to eat I took it out that morning so it could thaw. It tasted like I had just made it. So are you thinking what I’m thinking. Move over shrimp and fruit, make room for a little more cake in the freezer!

Clementines creamed ready for chocolate cake

This was so effective that I had to take a taste, but don’t. Wait until it’s baked into the cake with a little sweetness.

Dry ingredients for cake

Now if for some reason you already have this mixed together it would be like having your own cake mix that tastes better and costs less.

Chocolate Clementine Cupcakes hot from the oven

I got almost an entire pan of these cupcakes in addition to the cake.

Cooled cake waiting for glaze

When I took the cake out of the oven it was a little higher and then it settled. After it cooled I took it out of this pan to pour the glaze over the top.

Chocolate glaze waiting to be tasted

UPDATE: Made this again with Brad and he added chocolate chips from Enjoy Life. Now it’s a Triple Chocolate Clementine Cake and man was it good.

Scrub your clementines and cut into quarters. Check for seeds and remove if you find any. Add your orange juice and clementines to the Vita-Mix, secure the lid and select the Soup setting. If you have an older version check the directions for the setting used to make hot soup. This setting takes 5 minutes. You may need to tamper the clementines a little at first but the quickly incorporate.

During that time I mixed together the remaining ingredients, greased and lined my spring-form pan with parchment paper, put cupcake papers in that pan and cleaned my knife and cutting board. When the clementines were done I put them into a bowl so they could cool a little. I was afraid if I mixed them right in with the eggs I would end up with scrambled orange eggs.

Mix everything together and pour it into your prepared spring-form pan or cupcake pan or both like I did. Bake at a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour. With my pan being smaller than the size Shirley used, it took closer to 40 minutes to bake and so did the cupcakes. Make sure you test it with a toothpick that after inserted comes out clean. Shirley’s tip is to cover the cake with foil after 40 minutes so the top doesn’t get too brown.

Now is the time to be patient. Let this cake cool before you spring it loose. But of course the cupcakes are ready a little faster.

Glaze Ingredients:

4 TB of water

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 TB Olive Oil

2 pinches of Salt

This is a double version of Shirley’s glaze recipe. If you are making cupcakes you need more since you are covering more surface area. If you are making just one cake you can go back to a single recipe and cut this in half. But, nothing wrong with a little extra glaze!

Glaze Directions:

Put all of the ingredients into the Vita-Mix and use the hot soup setting. When it’s done just pour it over your cake and cupcakes. Of course don’t forget to put some wax paper under your cooling rack to catch any glaze that might drip off. After it cooled we pulled the paper out and peeled off the chocolate drips. It was like eating Dots. Remember that candy that comes on a long sheet of paper. Not sure if it’s still around but that chocolate glaze was not to be missed.

This is one terrific cake and I hope if you make it you will send us your photos too.
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On March 7th we celebrate the 2010 Academy Awards. An evening full of beautiful women, handsome men, amazing clothes, red carpet interviews, exclusive parties and for the lucky few, an Oscar. If you visit the Oscar website you can find information on all of the nominees, a ballot, and fun videos on all that goes into the production like photographing the co-hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. I’m watching on the 7th just to see the two of them work together.

Nominated for Best Leading Actress is Meryl Streep for her role as Julia Child in Julie & Julia. First I think she is a brilliant actor and can play just about anything. Loved her in The Devil Wears Prada, It’s Complicated and about twenty other films. However she and her role as Julia Child has inspired this recipe I’m sharing today as part of the Gluten Free Progressive OSCAR Dinner Party. This is where we share foods inspired by nominees and that can be served at your Oscar Watch Party. The entire list of blogs participating is at the bottom of this post.

On pages 580 and 581 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, you can find directions on how to make whipped cream. There are a few tips shared that are key. First, everything must be very cold. That means the cream to be whipped and the bowl and whip you will use. Next you will want to use a balloon whip.

Well in order for me to have whipped cream I was going to have to find something different to whip to make it dairy free. Having used coconut milk for ice cream and having readers tell me it was possible I decided to give it a try. The verdict: AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think both my husband and I could have jumped in head first to the bowl. It tasted amazing. The first little taste I could taste coconut but after the second lick it was just whipped cream. I couldn’t even get it out of the bowl fast enough so he could lick the beater and bowl.

Now I will say I made way too much thinking I might not make enough, but the leftovers really lasted a long time and we enjoyed them every day for almost a week. You may want to half the recipe which will work just the same but might not last as long.

Now that I have whipped cream the possibilities are endless. But now my mind wanders to chocolate mixed into the cream. Hmmmm.

So what will you do with your whipped cream? Here’s what I did with mine. I served it over mixed berries with Aleia’s almond cookies and shaved Gnosis Chocolate. Take a look but no licking your computer screen.

Ingredients:

2 cans of coconut milk full fat

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Place your cans of coconut milk in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours. The longer the better. So when you bring them home from the grocery store just tuck two into the ice box for when you need emergency whipped cream.

Also, place your bowl and whip into the freezer for at least 3 hours to chill. I use my son’s Kitchen Aid mixer with the balloon whip.

Once you take your bowl and whip out of the freezer and set up the mixer do not waste time. You need to keep the equipment cold. Open the cans at the bottom with a bottle opener to drain off the coconut water. Save this it is great for smoothies. Now open the top of the can all the way and scoop out the thick cream.

Start your mixer on low and move up 1 or 2 notches for speed until you get to moderate. As it starts to whip and increase in volume, gradually add in the powdered sugar. Once it’s mixed and looks fluffy like whipped cream, well you now have whipped cream. Tip from J.C.- look for the beater to leave light traces on the surface of the cream.

NOTE:

I’m not sure if this will work with a different sweetener such as agave. I do have agave granules that I will try just for my readers.

Now make sure you check out everyone hosting this month’s Gluten Free Progressive OSCAR Dinner Party.

I served these Cranberry Chocolate Nut Truffles at Thanksgiving and they were a big hit. They are super easy and fast to make and of course gluten and dairy free. They are also soy free! If you find out you need to take a treat with you to a party and you’re leaving in 15 minutes, you’re saved! Make and take these treats. This recipe is part of today’s’ No-Bake Gluten Free Desert Progressive Dinner Party theme.

Chop your nuts in a food processor. I would recommend you do the almonds first before you add in the other nuts if you want smaller almond pieces.

Put chopped nuts into a medium mixing bowl.

Add your dates to the food processor to chop.

Add those into the nut mixture.

Now add in your dried cranberries.

Melt the chocolate and combine with your nut, date and cranberry mixture.

Scoop out about a tablespoon of this mixture and form a ball. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Do this quickly before your chocolate hardens. For this reason I would not double this recipe, but make it twice if you want more.

Substitutions:

If you don’t have the dried cranberries, you can always leave them out.

You could add just about any type of dried fruit to this recipe. Raisins, blueberries, raspberries, papaya, pineapple, apricot, fig, prunes, goji berries, coconut or ginger. Each change will give you a different taste. Make sure if it’s a large dried fruit that you chop it down to raisin size.

Chocolate is one of my favorite things to eat. I of course had to make a frozen chocolate dessert for the holidays. This Chocolate Sorbet with Roasted Chocolate Nibs is gluten free and dairy free. It is very easy to make and all you need is the will power to let it set up before you eat it and cold. This sorbet is a very rich chocolate dessert.

With this recipe you can choose to leave out the pieces of candy or replace them with something else. I like hazelnuts or almonds in my chocolate and for the holidays peppermint is a favorite from candy canes. If you add solids make sure they are very small pieces. You can also add in espresso for that deep coffee flavor or spice it up with a little cayenne pepper. Really the possibilities are endless. I think the next time I make this I’ll make it plain.

What do you like to mix into your frozen chocolate desserts?

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cocoa powder (use the really good stuff as it makes a huge difference) I used Schaffen Berger.

In a sauce pan heat up the water and agave until combined. Add in the vanilla and salt and combine. Now mix in your cocoa powder.

You’ll want to heat this until totally mixed together. To get out the lumps use your whip.

Pour into a container and put into the refrigerator until very cold.

While you are waiting on that, you can chop up your chocolate bar or whatever you plan on adding to your sorbet.

Now you are ready to add it into your ice cream maker. It usually will take around 20-30 minutes for this to set up but check the directions on your machine.

Three quarters of the way through this process, when it’s started to thicken, I add in the cut up chocolate candy bar. If you add it too early it will all sink to the bottom. I like the mix to have a little body before I add it in.

You want to look for the mixture to thicken and look like a heavy slush.

Now scoop it out of the cold insert and into a container you can put into the freezer. It can take anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours to set up. This is not a large amount so it shouldn’t take long.

Scoop it out and serve it with your favorite cookie or cup of hot tea or coffee.

Substitutions:

You can change up the chocolate candy bar.

If you want to add in a coffee flavor replace 1/4 cup of water with 1/4 cup of espresso. If you don’t have an espresso machine around pick up a cup at the coffee shop.

If you don’t have agave, you can use 1 cup of sugar instead. Make sure it melts and combines well.

If you don’t have Mexican Vanilla you can use any vanilla extract except imitation. Check if it’s gluten free.

]]>http://www.thewholegang.org/2009/12/chocolate-sorbet-with-roasted-chocolate-nibs/feed/26Berrylicious Gluten Free Shakehttp://www.thewholegang.org/2009/01/berrylicious-gluten-free-shake/
http://www.thewholegang.org/2009/01/berrylicious-gluten-free-shake/#commentsFri, 23 Jan 2009 01:36:30 +0000http://www.thewholegang.org/2009/01/berrylicious-gluten-free-shake/Tonight’s dinner ended up being a mix of turkey fajita leftovers and some steak. My wonderful husband offered to have the leftovers so my son and I could have the steak. This worked better for me with my 4 day rotation diet. He’s the best!

So I thought I would share one of my favorite breakfast meals. It is fast and keeps me satisfied until lunch.

This is a great way to start the day. You can add in the supplements that you want to include in your diet. I like to have FLAX and extra greens. I also use the whey protein as I can tolerate it. If you eat any type of dairy adding greek yogurt is great. But be careful to read all labels. Many yogurts have sugars and stabilizers. FAGE is a gluten free greek yogurt that I use to eat and I’ve been told that kefir is also good . You want to also look for yogurt with Live and Active Cultures. These are the yogurts that are a good source of probiotics. It’s a good thing to have some type of protein in your smoothie. Some in my house use peanut butter, almond butter or macadamia nut butter.

The Greens+ that I use contains soy so if you are avoiding that there are others that are soy free. Amazing Grass GreenSuper Foods is another great supplement. I find these supplements in my Whole Foods, local health stores and online in my Amazon store.

I put the ingredients into the blender in the order written. Always put your liquid in first. If you find your smoothie is too thick and your blender looks like it’s going to start smoking, add more liquid and stir. Then blend. I start my blender off on chop and mix to get the frozen fruit broken down. I work my way up to liquefy. It works best if you use frozen fruit instead of fresh. This will give you the thick milkshake like consistency. I use to top my smoothie off with a plastic straw but I decided the landfills didn’t need my straws.